Cuckoo Help Please to Identify old Cuckoo Clock with wooden plates

[hugha]

This clock is a much appreciated gift and to me, appears to be quite a rarity. Any old cuckoo clock with wooden movement plates I think is highly collectable - this one gains even more points from being spring wound, not weight driven.

The garish dial surround is hard on the eyes, but maybe it is not the original? It is so badly damaged that it will need replacing anyway. There are 5 separate mirrored glass strips which have lost nearly all their silvering. The dial plate is a nice conventional roman numeral vitreous enamel one in great condition.

The brass pendulum and rod are heavy duty at nearly 12 ounces and would seem to have an effective length of about 12". Movement is a 30 hour one. Most of the case and the cuckoo door appear to be coated in black lacquer or similar. Parts are decorated with hand-painted gold. It has some woodworm which will be treated shortly. The bellows are kid leather. Number "111" is stamped in to all the movement plates but I can't find anything else to help identify the manufacturer. Several parts are missing - gong coil, hands, upper pendulum rod, escapement anchor an strike hammer. There should be no problem finding replacements.

My main questions are:
Date of manufacture?
Country/place of origin?
Is the bright blue dial surround likely to be original?
What is the best way to dismantle the wood plate movement?
Any other advice on servicing/repairing the movement? (I have quite a bit of experience with brass plate movements)

As always, all responses will be much appreciated.

Hugh Aston
Christchurch
New Zealand

 

[JTD]

Hallo Hugh, Congratulations on your new clock. I cannot answer all your questions, but maybe some.

1. First of all, the clock is certainly German, Black Forest.
2. Date I would guess around 1850 ± 10 years
3. In my opinion the bright blue is quite likely to be original. Why do you consider it so damaged as to need replacing? It doesn't look too bad to me, apart from needing the paint restoring and perhaps filling the cracks.
4. I would think twice about replacing the mirrored strips. I think you will find they are very thin glass and when you replace with new mirror, in my opinion it never looks quite right. And from what I can see, your glass doesn't look as if it has lost too much of the mirror backing.
5. I am puzzled as to why decoration on the two columns doesn't match. Could it be that one is a replacement from another clock?
6. I will leave it for others to advise you about the disassembly and restoration of wooden movements as I am not well versed in them.

I like these clocks very much - better than the 'normal' carved cuckoo, although some are very fine. When I was a little boy these clocks were sometimes to be seen in farm houses in the 'gute Stube' (best room) and they were much admired.

Hope this helps.
JTD

 

[hugha]

Thanks very much indeed for your reply, which is most reassuring - I had a niggly feeling that it could be from China! I'll certainly reconsider replacing everything around the dial and reuse the original mirror strips which are indeed very thin glass. I was also puzzled as to why the column decorations don't match but the colours do match so maybe they are original. I'll reuse them both anyway.


Your response has made me even more enthusiastic to restore the clock.

Thanks again,
Hugh

 

[ANTIQUECUCKOOCLOCK.ORG]

Nice clock Hugh, JTD covered it well I think, His dating was spot on. 1850-1860., Looks to me to be MOSTLY original, Its my opinion that this clock was made by Anton Ketterer, A well known and exceptional quality maker. The spring drives should make a 50 hour duration, The columns are beautifully original as is the ALL the paint, and glass. I think the columns likely represent spring and fall or something along those lines. The style is Biedermeier.
Servicing the movement is as easy as it looks, up under the lip you can see the screws toe-nailed in place. Pull those and the slat plates will drop right out. Remove all the actuator rods first though.

Kudos for a refreshing change from the usual ID post,
(showing one blurry, poorly lit photo of the front of a clock from 40 feet away)

A great piece indeed and WELL worth restoring.

 

[JTD]

Antiquecuckoo clock has posted a picture with hands that I wanted to describe to you but didn't know the best way, so didn't say anything! Those hands, or very similar, are what you clock would have had, I think. Maybe brass.

I had not thought of the possibility of the two columns representing different times of year. That is a good and original thought and I think it may well be the right one.

I am glad you are going to keep the original glass, which looks to be in quite good condition. I think modern mirror glass is made in a different process and it never quite looks right in these clocks. It is too bright and the old glass has a more gentle appearance. You will find that you can help the old glass quite a lot just by cleaning the grime of the years from the front sides, but please be very cautious about doing anything to the backs - the mercury backing will be very fragile now with age, and can easily flake off. Just gently clean the fronts. I know some people spray the back of old mirror glass with a little clear lacquer in order to stabilise the backing; I have never done this because I suspect that in the places where the backing has worn off, the lacquer might look odd and possibly yellow over time, but, as I say, I have never tried it.

Again, a very nice clock indeed. Congratulations!

JTD